


gain. verb, used with object

by mayachain



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Community: mini_nanowrimo, M/M, Pre-Slash, Self-Discovery, Vignette, emancipation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-19
Updated: 2013-01-19
Packaged: 2017-11-26 02:12:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/645403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mayachain/pseuds/mayachain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At some point just getting Dom back to his kids is no longer enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	gain. verb, used with object

He can't pinpoint exactly when it all becomes too much, if it’s the third time Mal shoots him or when Cobol sets a price on their heads. All Arthur knows it that at some point just getting Dom back to his kids is no longer enough.

He owes it to James and Philippa. Owes it to Mal, the real Mal, to give her kids their father back. It’s just that if he doesn’t find something else to focus on, some other goal, something for _himself_ , it will be him and not Dom that is getting them both killed and that won’t be of use to anyone.

Money won’t do. If money could get him what he wanted he would have ditched Dom long ago. Other extractors may be less skilled but Arthur is high-profile in his own right. No. It’s not money. Money won’t do.

It all goes to hell while he still searches. Maybe, quite possibly, it goes even further to hell _because_ he still searches. He misses a blip in his research and as professional as Dom and Eames are, they both trust his reputation too much to double-check his work and notice and _Robert Fischer is militarized._

Everything goes to shit.

And then Arthur hovers over Eames, bantering lightly even though they have only ever done little except snipe at each other, even though the job is falling apart underneath them, and he thinks, _oh._

And he thinks, _If we make it out of this, I will give myself this man._

Because he may not have previously acknowledged that this is something he’s wanted, has been too preoccupied to think about it, really, but when he walks after two years on the run he’ll have earned it. Provided Eames agrees. Which he will. Arthur’s pretty sure. And even if not, Arthur will have tried, which is the point. Trying with Eames, that’s his goal.

He sends Eames to sleep.

Something goes wrong on the first level and Yusuf can’t provide their kick. It doesn’t matter. Arthur has a goal now.

He sets about to conquer zero gravity.


End file.
